LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Correction officials are trying to figure out how to rework Arkansas' lethal injection law after the state's top court threw out the statute earlier this year, officials told legislators Tuesday.

"We know we're going to be challenged on whatever we come up with, but we're looking for guidance from other states, the federal bureau and the attorney general's office," Department of Correction Director Ray Hobbs told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "We're just trying to come up with something that we think will allow us to carry out executions."

Hobbs' visit to the Capitol on Tuesday came after the Arkansas Supreme Court June sided with a number of death row inmates who argued that the 2009 law violated part of the state's constitution that deals with separating the branches of government.

"The court concluded that the existing statute violated the separation of powers doctrine in the Arkansas Constitution by delegating too much authority to the Department of Correction, but it was very vague in how the statute should be changed," Deputy Attorney General Dennis Hansen told legislators Tuesday.

The 2009 law said death sentences are to be carried out by lethal injection of one or more chemicals that the director of the Department of Correction chooses.

It's not clear exactly what will replace the law, but Hansen said it may be enough to remove language granting the Department of Correction's director discretion when it comes to choosing what kind of drug or drugs are used in lethal injections.

"It may be sufficient merely to take out the words 'discretion' and fall back on those categories of drugs rather than specify them one by one," Hansen said.

"What would be the best way... to get as narrow as we can without tying your hands to a certain procedure that may become outdated in a few years?" asked Hutchinson, who has been tapped to lead the state Senate Judiciary Committee in the 2013 legislative session that begins Jan. 14.

No one seems to have the answer quite yet, but Hansen said he hoped to have something worked out soon.

Arkansas hasn't put anyone to death since 2005, in part because of legal challenges including the one the Supreme Court ruled on this year. There are 37 inmates on death row, according to online prison records.